Spying on Second Life
by Hirano Yuki
Summary: A young recruit of ABC Corporation was given a task to 'infiltrate' Second Life. Money-loving Jia Ying agreed without a second thought. The moment she entered the game, she wondered if this part-time job was really that worth it.


Summary: A young recruit of ABC Corporation was given a task to 'infiltrate' Second Life. Money-loving Jia Ying agreed without a second thought. The moment she entered the game, she wondered if this part-time job was really that worth it.

* * *

Prologue

'This corporation is… hopeless.'

Really, it was the understatement of the year.

"Hey, boss! Boss! I know just the thing to add to our new game! It is sure to become the number one role-playing game in no time!"

"Well?" a grumpy female voice, which was bordering alto, snapped impatiently. "Tell me about it!"

"You'll be amazed, boss!"

A virtual realm replaced the spacious office room that belonged to the head of ABC Corporation as soon as the male employee with round sparkly eyes pressed the 'ON' button on a cubic contraption.

It felt as though they were in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but white colouring the abyss they were currently trapped in.

Then, the scene began to alter and glowing circuits of some sort began to appear little by little, bringing the void they were once into life. Multiple colours streamed along the circuits, and soon they found complicated-looking calculations floating past them and into a distance.

All seemed well until a virtual, walking and talking hippo popped up in between the female boss and her still-very-excited employee.

「Hello, PLAYER! Are you ready to embark on an exciting journey in HIPPO WORLD? Once you enter this marvellous realm, you shall be turned into a HIPPO and will journey to defeat the ultimate evil of all evil, the DARK HIPPO KING!」

An anger vein immediately popped out on the back of the middle-aged woman's head as she spoke through her gritted teeth, "Hippo World, turning into a hippo, defeating the dark hippo king… What's next? Saving the hippo princess?"

Failing to notice that his employer's words were practically dripping with sarcasm, the eccentric employee beamed widely but said nothing in response as he waited for the game system to continue with the instructions.

「PLAYER, your goal is to save the HIPPO PRINCESS! You can get married in this world and have cute little HIPPO BABIES!」

The boss of ABC Corporation face palmed. The employee, who remained clueless to his employer's reddening face, was now brimming with pride.

"Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!" the male employee, who was in his late twenties, exclaimed chirpily. "You understand me so well, boss…"

Before the said employee could shower any more praises on his higher-up, a large ring file was hurled in his direction, and it smacked him right in the face, causing him to let out a painful squeak.

Averting her attention away from the 'pathetic excuse of an employee' as she liked to say, ABC Corporation owner Zhang Shi Mei continued to fume and glower as she turned to face her long forgotten visitor, who was standing further across the room watching the entire scene with a deadpan expression.

"Can you see _why_ I can't depend on them to gather intelligence on Second Life for me now, Miss Lee?"

Of all the companies that she could have chosen to sign up to work as a part-timer, why did she have to choose _this_ company? Good pay be damned...

'Miss Lee' forced a smile on her face and proceeded to laugh nervously.

Would she be smacked on the face with a desk lamp if she were to back out on the job now?

"I guess so... Uh..."

She promptly cursed inwardly. If it weren't for the fact that she needed money to pay for her university expenses...

"Good!" Shi Mei intercepted blatantly as she stalked over to pick up the cubic contraption that her employee had dropped when he keeled over after being hit by the ring file she threw. As soon as she hit the 'OFF' button, the virtual realm disappeared and the scene of an office room returned once more. She then tossed the device on to her employee's unconscious body before moving to sit behind her large mahogany desk, leaning back against her comfortable leather chair as she heaved out an exasperated sigh. "... So, when can you start?"

"Um... right away, I guess?" the younger female answered, awkwardly. There was a pause before she reiterated her reply with a more resolute tone of voice: "Yeah, I'm fine with starting right away."

"Well then -" The female employer did not waste any more time and promptly tossed a high-tech gaming headset to the new part-timer, who caught it clumsily. "Congratulations, Miss Lee Jia Ying. You are now a spy working for ABC Corporation. Don't let me down."

Jia Ying swore she had heard something similar along those lines from a spy movie once before.

* * *

Jia Ying was not one to read instructions – she pretty much tossed the guide aside and went ahead into the game world. Therefore, upon entering the character creation stage, she was already at a fix as to what she should choose.

Needless to say, her hesitation and long pauses were making the GM very, very irritated.

"Hm... what were the races I can choose from again?"

"GOD DAMN IT JUST BE HUMAN, WHY DON'T YOU?" the male Game Master bellowed out of frustration.

Jia Ying blinked once, then twice.

"Well, okay then."

The GM resisted the urge to face palm right then and there.

'This woman...,' he growled mentally as he glared daggers at the said person.

Unbeknownst to him, Jia Ying had inwardly patted herself on the back for a job well done; the fact that she never read guides to anything was actually helping out with her undercover as her cluelessness made her seem even less likely to be a spy, which she was in actuality.

Deciding that she should quickly get on with the real task in hand, the so-called undercover spy breezed through the following steps of her character creation and just blurted out the first random name that came into her mind.

The GM thought nothing about her sudden change in pace, but instead was relieved that he would soon be rid of another annoying newbie player.

"Please choose the continent that you want your avatar to be born in: there are North, East, South, West and Central Regions... However, due to an over-population crisis in the Central Continent, it is currently not an option for new players," the male explained monotonously.

"Ah... Well, I'll choose... the East Continent then. I don't really mind," Jia Ying replied frivolously.

The GM arched an eyebrow. As much as he hoped that the girl would not break down and start wailing about how she wanted to be in the Central Continent so she could be with Second Life's famous spokesperson 'Prince', he did not expect a complete nonchalant reply from her.

"Have you been living under a rock by any chance?" he drawled lazily.

Jia Ying merely gave him a blank stare.

"I take that as a yes. Well, good luck – you'll need it."

The second she was pushed towards her avatar by a strange force during the merging process, it dawned on her that she had not yet inquired something important from the GM.

"Ah! Wait!"

Before she could blurt out her question to the guy, a bright light blinded her as she was transported into the world of Second Life.

Silence ensued once more in the character creation realm.

* * *

The moment she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a toilet bowl.

She winced when a foul stench filled her (virtual?) nostrils, and she had to suppress the urge to puke.

God, when they say the game came with ninety-nine per cent realism, she didn't think it would be _this_ real.

'Blegh! Gross, gross, gross!'

Why was she teleported or specifically, born, into a bathroom cubicle?

"Stupid, mean GM...!" she cursed under her breath as she bolted out of the bathroom with great haste.

First point under Lee Jia Ying's Daily Report on Second Life: GMs can really bear grudges against certain players (her, specifically).

Once she was finally out of the foul-smelling bathroom, she shuddered, feeling grimy all over even though she only just started out in the game.

'Lousy GM,' she cursed once again inwardly. 'And he didn't even give me the chance to ask what I wanted to ask too!'

She frowned, looking left and right as she tried to assimilate her new surroundings. There weren't many people around since it was a newbie town, and she wasn't the kind of person who could attract a crowd just by breathing; these facts benefit her in a sense that she would be able to do her job efficiently and without being disturbed.

She then looked into her money pouch and took note of the amount, disregarding how little it was, before looking around for an accessories store.

She actually wanted to ask the GM about how an accessories store looked like in Second Life, so she could quickly locate one; nevertheless, when she found a shop with a huge signboard that had the word 'Accessories' written in bold a few minutes later, she was silently glad that she did not manage to ask or she would have been regarded as a complete idiot (not that she wasn't already).

Shaking her head and clearing her thoughts, she entered the store without any hesitation.

First thing first: she needed a disguise.

'I just hope I don't meet people I know from my university... or anyone I know for that matter.' She winced at the thought of it. 'I'm seriously not seeing the point of this job...'

.

.

.

The next morning, Shi Mei was impressed to find that the new part-timer had already sent in her first report – very much earlier than the submission date she had set, to be exact.

Clicking open the report that had been sent via e-mail, she skimmed through it, the process only taking half a minute, the reason being that the report did not so much as exceed two sentences:

**I've yet to find out why Second Life is so appealing to a lot of people, but there's one thing that's for sure: it's not because of the Game Masters. They're just mean.**

Cue eye twitch.

'I'm seriously going to fire that girl if the next report I get isn't any better.'

The poor owner of ABC Corporation could only massage her temples in distress.


End file.
